Family Support Services

Cleo, a resource for working parents that partners with the likes of LinkedIn, Reddit and Uber, raised $27.5 million in its latest funding round. Here’s how its female founder, Shannon Spanhake, plans to use those dollars. (Credit: Cleo Facebook page) Working parents need all the help they can get. Cleo’s mission is to support them -- and it just got $27.5 million to put toward that work. The company, founded by CEO Shannon Spanhake, offers an app and creates guides that connect expecting and new parents with critical resources like lactation consultants and career coaching sessions. Cleo has teamed up to offer its services to workers at large companies like Slack, eBay and Pinterest, reportedly reaching over 475,000 families in more than 50 countries. Late last week, Spanhake announced that Cleo raised $27.5 million in Series B funding. The round was led by New Enterprise Associates and included investors such as Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner. This comes in addition to raising $10.5 million in Series A funding last year. Spanhake says she and her team will use the money to expand into connecting workers with fertility and family planning services. She’s not the only woman entrepreneur finding success through catering to families. For example, female founder Sara Schaer was once a tech executive and stressed-out mom trying to get her kids safely to and from preschool before she started up. Today, she’s the CEO of Kango, a growing rideshare for kids that aims to solve that problem for parents like her. Schaer says Kango’s potential was clear from the start. “It was evident that there was a ton of pent-up demand for his type of service,” she says, based on her company’s growth. And as Spanhake’s fundraising success highlights, it's a time of rich opportunity for tech entrepreneurs with parent-focused ideas.

Family Support Services

This Woman-Run Resource for Working Parents Just Got a $27.5 Million Cash Infusion

The Story Exchange

Family Support Services

This Woman-Run Resource for Working Parents Just Got a $27.5 Million Cash Infusion

The Story Exchange

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